


The Lost Little Wolf

by Xaviers_protege



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Blood and Violence, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-07-13 04:44:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16010534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xaviers_protege/pseuds/Xaviers_protege
Summary: It had been a long time since anyone had even thought about Remus Lupin. After all, hadn't he gone insane before the end of sixth year, right?So why the hell has he shown up at James Potter's doorstep in the middle of the night?





	1. Chapter 1

The wind whispered angrily at Remus’ face as he ran through the forest and the trees stood as the only witness to his plight. Breathing heavily and close to tears, the werewolf could do nothing but hope he was nearly there, yet the darkness seemed never-ending and stretched further than his wolf enhanced vision could see.

“Please, please, please!” He begged, his voice nothing but a hoarse whisper that was too weak to resist being stolen by the breeze. His feet, having been bare, were rubbed raw to the point where Remus was sure he was bleeding.

Excited howls filled the remaining silence, sending cold shivers down the young man’s spine. He pushed on faster, pressing his toes into the ground for more force. The noises surrounded him and he knew they were close. Nausea rolled in his stomach and bile was almost crawling up his throat at the thought of the others. He could still feel Greyback’s hands on him and the scent of his tyrant alpha lingered.

There! He could see it! A dry sob escaped Remus as he made the last push towards his destination. The sinister sounds were too near - there wasn’t enough time for a decent extraction plan. The werewolf was beyond caring; at least he had gotten here, he could easily make something up quickly.

Remus had built up too much momentum to stop properly, however. He instead crashed loudly into a door, surely disturbing the occupants of the house. He tried to steady himself, though now that he had stopped moving so vigorously he could feel the sharp stings in the soles of his feet and the slow, deep ache in his chest. He had gotten so focused on trying to breathe that he hadn’t noticed the door open.

“Do you have any idea what time it is? My son is trying to sleep.” Raising his head, Remus found himself looking into the emotive green eyes he hadn’t seen for almost six years. A slight intake of breath alerted him that he had also been recognised.

“Lils, who is it? Can’t they wait till the morning?” Hazel eyes joined verdant and, like their companion’s, they widened in surprise. “Lupin? What in Merlin’s name are you doing here? Didn’t you go mental?”

Remus, now sufficiently recovered for his task, heaved panicked words from his mouth as if expelling them from his lungs. “They’re coming. You have to go. Find somewhere safe.” Everything hurt, but he could only think of the Potters - they needed to be safe.

“The fuck?” James Potter pushed himself in front of his wife, hostility bleeding into his posture and expression. “You really did lose it. Get off of my property.” He readied his wand - when had he gotten that? Remus asked internally, reprimanding himself for his lack of concentration.

“Please,” he pleaded. It wasn’t the approach he’d wanted to take; the attack wasn’t meant to happen for days, he should have had time to prepare, to warn them! “It’s Greyback, he’s coming. His pack are already close by. You have to leave and find Dumbledore.”

Whilst suspicion clearly endured in the eyes of James, Lily Potter gasped lightly at the mention of the infamous wizard. She gripped her husband’s arm tightly and pulled. “James…” She started. 

He tried to shake her off, but Remus wasn’t surprised to see her remain in place just as strong. She was never one to listen when told to back down. “Lily, he’s a stranger who shows up in the middle of - ”

Cut off by a blood-curdling howl, Remus instinctively crouched into a defensive stance, preparing to fight off his former packmates. His gaze searched the shadows, looking for the predators he had reluctantly become so intimate with. “Get inside.” He warned lowly, his voice suddenly taking on a dangerous undertone. Without waiting for any form of response, he pushed out and, catching James in the chest, pressed them all inside the Potter house.

It was a testament to the severity of the situation that neither of them resisted him, they simply moved to let him in. “Go check on Harry.” James said to Lily quietly as his wand was still poised for action. She nodded and rushed up the stairs to see to her son’s safety. 

Remus went further into the house, a little dumbfounded at the heat of the air. He hadn’t felt the warmth of a proper home in a long time. After spending so much time in the wake of his expulsion living with a pack of lycanthropes who had considered themselves more wolf than human, insulated walls and a soft carpet felt like walking into a palace.

Photographs lined the walls and Remus couldn’t help but smile at the dancing image of two people so incredibly in love. His gut twisted at the thought of someone wanting to destroy something so pure. They were such a beautiful family; their history together catalogued proudly on their front room wall, displaying for every visitor their love for each other, school friends, and - most recently - their little baby son. Remus decided he like these photos very much.

The other images caught his interest. Ones containing a man with a soft body, whose features were too small and sharp for his face, creating a vaguely timid, mousy look. This was a man that Remus recognised.

Seeing this man laughing and smiling in the home of the Potters froze the blood in his veins. This was the Dark Lord’s pet, he realised. He remembered sitting by Greyback’s feet - an act of submission that amused the sadist to no end - and looking across at the face of a man with too much power. He’d barely registered other person, the Dark Lord having an aura that was as captivating as it was intimidating. What had been noticeable about him was the way the Dark Lord had looked down at him with disdain and how he stuttered out an address with a low, barely audible pitch, so unlike the usual companions of the evil Remus knew.

“Who is this?” He picked up a frame containing a photograph of the man and showed James who had taken his place by the window, pulling back the curtain every now and then to glance outside.

The wizard looked confused for a moment. “Who? Pete? Don’t you remember him from school?” 

“You can’t trust him.” Affronted, James sputtered out protests, all of which Remus ignored. “Greyback and the Dark Lord, he was working for them, or something. He gave them your address.” 

“No. Pete would never… he wouldn’t. He’s one of my best mates.”

“Look, I don’t care if he’s your best friend, brother, whatever. The fact is that he was - ”

“Little wolf!” It came as a teasing yell, almost musical in its mocking tone. “Come on out, pet.” The familiar nickname smashed through Remus’ confidence and he trembled in panic. “Why did you run? Did the puppy not want to be good? You know what we do to naughty puppies, pet.” 

James’ skin had taken on a sickly pallor. “What’s he on about?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Joining his former schoolmate by the window. Remus took a glimpse outside and his brow furrowed in uncertainty. “Why are they just standing there?” He was right; gathered at the treeline was the pack of werewolves that had made Remus’ life an almost literal hell for six years. They remained there, prowling up and down as if they really were animals on the hunt.

Hurried footsteps approached them and Lily reappeared with a tiny bundle in her arms. “I’ve sent a patronus to Sirius. We should go to his flat and figure out what to do from there.” James nodded in confirmation and advanced towards his wife. He took the load from her arms carefully and Remus’ heart clenched at the adoration in his eyes as he whispered calming words down at his son as he gave a confused whine.

“James, Lily, there’s someone coming.” The other man warned lowly. “Shit, shit.” He closed the curtain roughly and dragged himself towards the other two. “I think it’s Voldemort.”

The witch cursed and checked for herself. “How did he find out where we are?” 

“Does it matter!? We have to go.” Remus seized Lily’s arm, but in a sudden, painful flash, they were blown back as a large portion of the front wall was ruptured violently.

Remus heard Lily coughing harshly through the high pitched ringing in his ears as she expelled tiny particles from her lungs. “James? Harry? Are you okay?”

The reply came in the form of a laugh that could only be described as malevolent. “Why bother asking, dearest Lily, when you know they’ll be dead in a few moments? Do you cave pain?” His voice washed over them and hearing it was like being caressed by death.

“Lily,” Remus gasped out, his ribs screaming at him as he shifted to a more upright form.

Black robes appeared in his line of vision. “Aren’t you Greyback’s toy?” The Dark Lord asked in disgust. “I could kill you and put an end to your miserable excuse of an existence. However, your master has expressed a desire for your return.” He crept back over to Lily who had crawled towards her husband and son. They seemed, thankfully, fine if not a little battered going by Harry’s angry cries and James’ quiet assurances.

“How sweet,” Voldemort said in a saccharine tone, “say your goodbyes, mudblood.” He lifted his wand towards Lily’s body and , as he prepared to utter the fatal curse, she threw her arm out at Remus and clutched his forearm.

Not knowing what her plan was, the next moment passed in a twisted burst of nauseating blurs of green and red. It was as if his stomach had been pinched and tugged ruthlessly. He was helpless to stop it. It was terrifying, but sudden as, with a sharp crack and a heavy drop in his belly, his sight was almost immediately surrounded with new surroundings.

It was all too much for Remus. As soon as the unfamiliar walls stopped spinning, he collapsed to the floor and retched hard. He couldn’t comprehend what had happened. That was Voldemort! The Dark Lord had held a wand to their heads and they were still alive!

For a moment all that filled the air was Remus’ gagging, Harry’s terrified shrieks, and James’ attempts to quieten him. 

“James! Merlin’s tits, mate, what the fuck did they do?” A foreign sound - someone new. Remus’ head spun. For years he had been around the same faces and the same scents, with barely any variation. All these new sensations made his skin feel like it was vibrating. Everything was in overload: the noises were too loud, smells were too potent, colours were too bright. A long whine escaped him as his adrenaline crashed.

Ignoring everything around him as he laid his head on the ground, all Remus could think about was how he wished he wasn’t too late.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating changed for explicit language and mentions of gore

Honestly, Sirius had thought it would be another boring night. Halloween held so much promise for mischief that after he had left school and the pronglet had been born, every year seemed to weigh on him just a little harder. School had been fun. Mostly. It certainly had beat being at home, that was for sure.

Now?

Now they were soldiers at twenty one, fighting a war they didn’t know how to fight, leaving Sirius with a bloody large mess in his front room.

The patronus Lily had sent had hardly begun to prepare him for what he’d encounter, having woken him up in whatever arse-end of the night - or morning - it was. He didn’t have time to even turn on a light before they’d apparated into the room in an explosion of chaos.

“James! Merlin’s tits, mate, what the fuck did they do?” Staring down at the multiple bodies on his floor, Sirius couldn’t really understand the scene. They were shadowed, but he could make out Lily laying on the ground, unmoving as James sat next to her clinging to their child, whispering frantically. He sounded as if he were on the verge of a panic attack, the rhythmic murmurs staving off the worst. There was someone else with them, but it was too dark for Sirius to be certain who it was.

It took awhile for him to focus in on something, casting a quick spell to give himself some light, and he felt his knees go weak as could finally take it all in. Red was plastered all over the three figures that were spread across his carpet. The metallic scent of iron panicked him and he rushed down to the ground to search them all for the source. “Where the fuck is all this blood from?” He hissed to himself, knowing none of the people in front of him were coherent enough to answer any questions.

Lily was too pale.

Pushing the third person to the side, into a puddle of his own vomit Sirius realised with a grimace, he found where the blood was coming from. Lily must have splinched herself apparating. In place of her right forearm was simply a bloody stump that was leaking heavily. “Oh shit, oh fuck!”

What was he supposed to do!? Thinking quickly, he pulled off the thin cotton shirt from his body and wrapped it tightly around the wound. Hoping it would give him a little more time, he moved as fast as he could to an antique cabinet hidden at the back of his dining room. Potions lined the shelves of the case, a myriad of coloured liquids in glass jars. Sirius wished in that moment that he had taken better care of them as many of the labels had started to peel off or had smudged writing. He clambered around, not really knowing what he should be using in the situation, so he grabbed all the blood-replenishing potions he had and decided that he desperately needed a professional.  

“Sirius?” James’ voice travelled, warbling with fear and confusion. He'd abandoned trying to calm the baby as its wails amplified into a throaty, instinctive scream that had Sirius’ spine crawling.

“Hey, Prongs, mate.” Sirius crashed to the ground with the potions. There weren't as many as he'd have liked, but he thought it may just be enough to keep Lily alive until help arrived. His hands hovered over them, not really knowing what the fuck to do.

He cursed himself suddenly; there was no point in using blood-replenishing potions if he couldn’t at least slow the bleeding. He pulled off the belt for his dressing gown and put it on the ground at the ready. Tentatively, Sirius began to pull back Lily’s pyjama sleeve from the wound. The fabric seemed to have become soaked and stuck to muscle and it didn’t peel off like he thought it would. He had to stop as he turned to gag, strong enough to make him heave properly. It took him awhile, but he caught his breath and decided just to make a tourniquet.

Sirius then adjusted her head onto his lap so that her head was tilted so he could tip one of the potions into her mouth. His skin buzzed and his head throbbed and he couldn’t help but feel like he wasn’t even real. It was as if this was an intense dream that he _really_ wanted to wake up from. “More like a fucking nightmare.”

“This is your fucking fault!” If he had been dreaming, Sirius would have definitely been woken by that scream of anger. It shook him to the present and he abruptly became aware of the chaos that had erupted in his front room;

Whilst baby Harry was still screeching like a wounded animal, James had the stranger pinned to the wall, his forearm just a nudge away from crushing the man’s windpipe. Sirius thought there was a proper chance of James killing the bloke. “James, what the fuck is going on?”

“This wasn’t me, I swear.” His voice was a meek, raspy whisper, as if it hurt him to speak. There was something about him that resonated in the back of Sirius’ memory, an itchy familiarity that he was struggling to scratch. His light brown hair was thin and dry, much like the rest of his body seemed to be. He was skinny and bony as though he’d barely eaten, though with the scarring and bruising that littered his pale skin, malnutrition was probably the least of his worries.

It reminded Sirius of the days when he was younger, before the self-realisation that he could fight back against his parents. He saw himself pressed to the wall, helpless against his mother’s wrath.

James was blind in his fury, however. “It was you! You lead them all right to us! How did you find us!?” He pushed further into his throat to the point where the stranger gasped for breath, weakly grasping at the arm in a frail attempt to save himself.

“James, mate. Would you calm the fuck down!? You’re not going to get any answers if you kill him.” There wasn’t much that Sirius could do in his position, but out of everything that had happened tonight, he wasn’t going to let his best friend become a murderer. Besides, they weren’t even sure what this bloke was supposed to have done. James gave him another forceful shove against the wall, his eyes promising vengeance, and roughly let him drop to the ground.

Harsh coughing interrupted the baby’s cries and suddenly James was reminded of his distressed son. He was over to the boy in a quick movement and started to hush him. The gentleness he saw in his best friend was like a physical relief to Sirius. “Someone needs to call Dumbledore. Now.” His voice quivered and cracked. He could almost taste the metallic tang of blood in the air and he couldn’t stop staring at his red slicked hands.

“I...I,” the skinny man stuttered, “I don’t have my wand.” It was a quiet admission. Ashamed, almost, or perhaps afraid.

Scoffing lightly, careful of the fragile bundle in his arms, James countered, “I’ll do it. Pads, am I alright to use your room?”

“Yeah, mate. I’ve still got some baby stuff from last time-”

“In the bathroom, yeah, I remember.”

With that, Sirius was left alone with a dying woman and the stranger who may have gotten her killed. The acrid smell of vomit began to climb in strength now that his attention was driven from Lily’s bleeding body, and he grimaced at the mess on his carpet. It wouldn’t be difficult to clean, but he knew that the scent would linger in the room for a long while after.

“Who are you?” Sirius found himself asking. The older scars on the young man’s face were jarring; every time he caught sight of them, he couldn’t help but imagine the pain this man must have felt when they were inflicted. Painted on his skin as if some sort of brand, the young Black felt the tickle of familiarity bloom in his mind again.

Hesitation was written all over the stranger’s body. He opened his mouth a few times to reply, and Sirius thought he may have forgotten his own name. “Remus.” It was so quiet said that the animagus had to strain to heat it. “Lupin.” The other man shifted, the light illuminating him a little better so that Sirius could clearly see even the grey hairs that seemed to pepper through his hair.

He would admit to wincing at the thought of his own hair turning grey when he was barely even  able to be an adult properly.

“Holy shit,” he breathed as he fully processed the information he’d just been given. “You’re Loopy Lupin?” He blurted it out, without a care to the insensitive nickname they’d all called him at school; Remus Lupin, who always spent his time alone, who spoke to himself when he thought nobody was listening, who regularly skipped lessons only to return looking haggard and paranoid.

Remus-fucking-Lupin who went missing at the end of sixth year.

“We thought you’d died!” Sirius gave a little breathy laugh of disbelief at the situation he’d found himself in. “What the fuck happened?” He must have looked hysterical; blood covered his arms, soaking the already filthy shirt he’d thrown on after the emergency call, laughing at the old classmate who he’d thought was dead.

Lupin - who was now leaning against the wall, sitting on the floor with limp, exhausted limbs - smiled sardonically. “The usual, I suppose? Purebloods happened.”  

Now, Sirius would usually applaud such slights, always giving a dark chuckle whenever someone spat on the names of the Malfoys, or the Lestranges, or even the Blacks. However, the incredulity of the situation had finally drained all amusement from his body. The frantic laughter that had escaped him had morphed into a deep hole in his stomach, a pit that grew and physically hurt as he looked around his room.

The weight of Lily's head in his lap was the only anchor that kept his buzzing head from devolving into true panic. Sirius ran his fingers through her hair gently, the drying blood on his hands catching the strands, staining her too.

The reds clashed, he thought absently. Hate began to blossom in his chest for the crimson liquid, growing painfully like a thorn bush. He was 21 for fuck’s sake! He'd probably seen more blood in the last hour than his body had ever produced in his entire fucking life!

He stared at Lily through tired eyes, his gaze blurred with fatigue and trauma. Once, he’d had nothing. His parents had made sure of that. He was unafraid and unrepentant of the rebellious actions of his youth because there were so few things that they could take from him.

Now Sirius was on the brink of losing his family to this war and there was nothing he could do to stop it.


End file.
